Snapshots
by Haruka Hiasobi
Summary: Change is an inevitable part of life. Sometimes we change for the better and sometimes we change for the worse.


Author: Long time no see! Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter of A Christmas Wish. XD As a token of my gratitude, I present you something easy to digest. This one will only be three chapters or so. I AM planning a sequel for A Christmas Wish and another more AU Weiss story. We'll see which one get tackled first. - A special thank you to Omakase who, hopefully, would not be disappointed to wait a while longer for the sequel.

Snapshots

Chapter 1: Two weeks

- Aya -

In the hospital the nurses had gathered around his cradle to admire his beauty. The redness of the skin that promised the palest of white when he would get older. The soft, almost feather like frizzle of red hair. And of course, the breathtaking violet blue eyes that peeked through only now and then.

She loved him from the moment she knew he was inside of her. It wasn't because Ran was a beautiful baby that his mother loved him. She loved him like all mothers loved their child, no matter how they looked. She and her husband only wished for a healthy baby and their wish was granted.

In a month or so, Ran would start to truly see the things in his environment. As Keiko Fujimiya rocked her child in her arms and hummed a lullaby, she couldn't wait until the day Ran could truly see and she would finally be able to show him all the wonderful things in life. She silently prayed for a peaceful and loving life for her son.

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- Ken -

The steps leading to the big cathedral were high and wide. It was one of the darkest of nights when the woman bent down to lay her precious bundle on one of the higher steps. The soft baby-blue blanket was wrapped tightly around a little infant. A sliver of moonlight cut through the clouds and revealed tears streaming down a young face. She gave the child one last kiss on his forehead and almost immediately he started to cry. Perhaps the infant was cold, perhaps he was hungry or perhaps... he knew instinctively that this would be the last time he would see his mother ever again.

The following day, a priest would find the infant when he opened the door to greet the Sunday visitors. Upon closer inspection he would find a note in the baby's chest pocket, a small piece of paper that contained the surname of the child and his date of birth. But most importantly it contained a message and this message stood for the unspeakable love, pains, sorrows and regrets of a mother who could not take care of her child.

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- Omi -

Kikuno was born into a traditional family. From an early age she had known two things about marriage. The first was that weddings were not about love, but mostly a means to achieve more power or more money. The second was that her marriage would take place with or without her consent. What she didn't know was the possibility of falling in love and spending the rest of her days in silent agony. Every day she would see the one man she loved so painstakingly close and yet be separated from him until the remainder of her days. It was something she did not wish upon her worst enemies.

She knew that Reiji had no love for her and only married her to madden his brother. And yet, for years she had done her duties and kept true to their wedding vows. She did it for her sons, Hirofumi and Masafumi, children she wanted to raise as better men than their father. But the fates were not kind and hosted an innate cruelty in both her eldest sons, a cruelty of nature that showed through the older the children got. That was probably the main reason why she went to Shuuichi that fateful night.

She looked at the laughing baby in her arms and smiled. This infant was not the product of jealousy, this baby was the product of true love. The moment she saw the light that seemed to radiate from the large blue eyes, she knew without a doubt that this was indeed Shuuichi's child. She didn't have the courage to tell him. Perhaps someday, but not now. Shuuichi was trying to become the head of the police department and a child fathered with his brother's wife would definitely put an end to his career. Shuichi was selfless and kind. He would do many good and great things for Japan and the world as a whole. A warmth, the kind that would've melted the coldest snow, filled her whenever she looked at Mamoru, but along with this warmth came a tingling sensation she couldn't define. In a few years, this sensation would grow and manifest in its true sinister form: utter despair. But at the time Kikuno stilllived in blessed ignorance, so she continued to hold her child with a smile on her face.

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- Yohji -

He couldn't see, but he could hear. The shouting, the cursing, the shattering of glass and finally the harsh sound of muscled flesh coming into contact with much more fragile surfaces. He was too young to understand the meaning of the words or the significance of gestures. Unfortunately, as the years would pass by, he would have many more opportunities to understand it as it repeated itself almost endlessly in its vicious circle.

Twenty minutes went by and the small apartment was eerily silent. The door slammed shut announced that the man had just left the house, in seach of throat burning booze and company that could be bought. Another hour went by before the woman regained her consciousness and slowly walked to the baby, who laid peacefully in a small corner of the large bed. A shaky hand reached out and connected with the baby's white flesh. After a moment, another much more solid slap followed and started the infant's cries. It wouldn't be long before these cries would become a frequent sound within the walls. The neighbors didn't know or didn't want to realize the true horror behind and would simply assume that it was yet another difficult child.


End file.
